Injured Tsonga throws in the towel at Wimbledon

France’s Jo-Wilfried Tsonga became the latest player to pull out of Wimbledon on Wednesday after he retired part-way through a match against Latvia’s Ernests Gulbis due to injury. Tsonga was losing 6-3 3-6 3-6, before throwing in the towel.

Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga joined a long list of casualties at Wimbledon on Wednesday when he retired injured while trailing Latvia’s Ernests Gulbis in his second round match.

Day Three of the championships had already been blighted by a spate of injury withdrawals when sixth seed Tsonga threw in the towel just before the fourth set in a match he was losing 6-3 3-6 3-6.

Tsonga, who was a potential quarter-final opponent for British number one Andy Murray, had called a trainer on to Centre Court at the end of the second set and emerged afterwards with strapping on his left knee.

But his already patchy performance only got worse as Gulbis, ranked 39th in the world, played more aggressively, peppering shots past the struggling Frenchman to take control of the match.

The victory hands Gulbis his first ever place in the third round at Wimbledon.

Earlier on Wednesday, Rafa Nadal’s conqueror Steve Darcis and women’s second seed Victoria Azarenka were among several players to withdraw injured from the championships.